Two ways to break a conversational maxim:
Violate: Break it covertly to deceive. The listener doesn’t know the maxim was broken.
Flout: Break it visibly, expecting the listener to notice the gap and infer meaning from it. The whole point is that they notice.
The letter of recommendation: Professor asked to write for a student who is bad at philosophy. Letter says only: “Excellent command of English. Attends regularly.” Technically true. But by being conspicuously vague about anything substantive, the professor floutes the Quantity maxim. The absence of praise is the negative recommendation. More is communicated by what’s left out than by what’s said.
Marketing example: “Vegan tomatoes,” “asbestos-free cereal” — flouts Quantity by providing technically true but unnecessary information, implying competitors’ products might have these problems.
Silence speaks: What is not said in a recommendation is the actual message. Omission is communication — as long as the listener can reasonably be expected to notice the omission.
Irony, sarcasm, understatement all operate through flouting. “Oh, wonderful” after a disaster floutes Quality (says something untrue) to imply the opposite. The listener is meant to catch it.
Key distinction for spotting manipulation: Flouting = implies through implicature (sophisticated, non-deceptive). Violating = deceives through concealment (manipulative). The difference is whether the listener is supposed to notice.